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“KEEPING THE GRAND CANYON GRAND”......................... 1

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ................................................... 4

“23 WOUNDED VETS, 3 RAFTS & THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME...... 6

“WOUNDED VETERANS HEAL ON THE RAPIDS” .............. 10

“GRAND CANYON WARRIORS BIG RIGS .......................... 12

“GRAND CANYON WARRIORS RIVER TRIP 2015”............. 14

“LTEMP/DEIS” ............................................................... 18

GCRRA DIRECTORS ........................................................ 20

JOIN GCRRA .................................................................. 20

Number Nineteen Spring, 2016Preserving Public Access to the Colorado River

In this Issue

PHOTO COURTESY SGT. DAVID GILL

Keeping the Grand Canyon Grand: Updates from the Grand Canyon Trust

By ROGER CLARK

“Every 15 or 20 years, it seems, the canyon forces us to undergo a kind of national character exam. If we cannot muster the resources and the resolve to preserve this, perhaps our greatest natural treasure, what, if anything, are we willing to protect?”

— Kevin Fedarko, “Cathedral Under Siege”, New York Times 8/10/14

The Grand Canyon Trust works with river runners, native communities, conservationists, businesses, and all who are committed to keeping the canyon grand for future generations. Currently, we are supporting Save the Confluence families’ opposition to the proposed Escalade resort and tramway to the confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado rivers. The Trust, Havasupai Tribe, and many dedicated allies are also continuing to oppose new uranium mines in Grand Canyon watersheds, supporting the newly proposed Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument, and working to prevent the proposed development in Tusayan from drilling new wells that threaten already over-tapped aquifers that feed Grand Canyon’s precious seeps and springs.

Please let us know if you have questions after reading these brief summaries.

Grand Canyon EscaladeRussell Begaye became president of the Navajo Nation on May 12, 2015. His election is a significant setback for Escalade because it effectively ends promoters’ multi-year push for approval, which gained momentum under the Joe Shirley/Ben Shelly administration (2007-2011) and reached its apex under President Shelly’s four years in office. Save the Confluence family members have spent thousands of hours traipsing across the reservation to do radio programs, attend council meetings, and meet with community leaders, journalists, presidential candidates, and anyone who might lend a hand in stopping the Navajo Nation from approving Escalade. During the four years and five months that the developers enjoyed President Shelly’s support, they actively campaigned to obtain the council’s necessary approval. But not a single delegate has ever spoken in support of the project or sponsored the legislation required to approve it.  President Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez have stated their firm opposition to Escalade. Save the Confluence partners have expressed appreciation “to our neighboring

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tribes, countless activists, and the 3,000 Navajo individuals who signed our petition, in addition to the Navajo chapters that stood with us against the development at Grand Canyon east rim.” They also thanked “the Grand Canyon Trust, the river runners, the nation and the world to Save the Confluence.” They concluded that “while the president’s stance is being recognized as good and welcome news, we will remain cautious of the Navajo Nation Council.”

Rial Lamar Whitmer and his Escalade investment partners sank several million dollars to convince the Navajo Nation’s president and 24-member council to approve their secretly negotiated master agreement, which was finally leaked to the public in late 2014. Despite losing approval of the president’s office, they are continuing to press for support among Navajo Nation council delegates and chapter officials and have reportedly secured new financial backing to lobby delegates to introduce supporting legislation in 2016. Several former council members and political insiders appear to be working on behalf of the developers. But, thus far, President Russell Begaye and his administration are solidly opposed to Escalade. The Trust remains supportive of Save the Confluence family members to influence council and chapter decisions, to validate grazing and home site leases with DNA Legal Services, and to pass resolutions by grazing committees and chapters opposed to Escalade.

Meanwhile, the Trust is supporting chapter officials, Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation, businesses, council delegates, and other leaders in developing economic and conservation strategies with western Navajo communities. We are also exploring options with regional and national leaders for better protecting the 62-mile reach of river from Lees Ferry to the confluence, and from the river to the eastern rim.

Grand Canyon Uranium MiningThe National Mining Association and other plaintiffs appealed a federal judge’s ruling that upheld Interior Secretary Salazar’s 20-year ban on new uranium mining in Grand Canyon watersheds. The State of Arizona has joined Utah and three other states in filing an amicus brief, supporting the appeal of a lower court. The Trust and allies are supporting Interior’s defense against the appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court.

Meanwhile, Energy Fuels has re-opened Canyon uranium mine, near Red Butte and Tusayan following U.S. District Judge David Campbell’s 2012 ruling in favor of the Forest Service decision not to update the mine’s 1986 environmental impact statement. The mine’s shaft has been sunk several hundred feet, but it will take nearly a year before they reach and begin hauling ore to their mill in Blanding, Utah. The Havasupai Tribe, Grand Canyon Trust, and allies submitted our opening brief on the Canyon Mine appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court in September, 2015. We are

arguing that the U.S. Forest Service failed to comply with several federal laws when it gave Energy Fuels permission to resume uranium mining. Briefing will soon be completed and oral argument should follow sometime in 2016.

Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National MonumentLast fall, Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva introduced the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Act. Written with Havasupai, Navajo, and other tribal leaders, the bill would eventually end uranium mining on public lands bordering Grand Canyon National Park. The new national monument would further protect sacred lands and ecosystems on approximately 1.7 million acres of public lands that are integral to Grand Canyon National Park (please see map next page).

Congressman Grijalva recognizes that there’s little chance for passing the bill. However, he notes that the legislative language is written expressly as a template for a presidential proclamation of the new national monument, under authority of the Antiquities Act.

The purposes of the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument are “to preserve, and if necessary, restore” native, cultural, sacred lands and key tribal resources and nationally significant biological, ecological, cultural, scientific and other values found in the Grand Canyon, including above ground tributaries, springs and interconnected groundwater. It would make the 20-year ban on new mining claims permanent and require federal land managers to complete the new monument’s management plan within three years and allow for an open, public process as set forth in the National Environmental Policy Act. The new monument would continue to be managed under existing laws, consistent with the monument’s purposes. It would not affect existing and historical uses, close mines or claims with valid existing rights, or change rules on hunting,

Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva announces the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument at the Museum of Arizona on October 12, 2015.

Standing (l-r) are Havasupai cultural leader James Uqualla, Hopi Tribal Vice Chairman Alfred Lomahquahu, Jr., Navajo Vice President Jonathan Nez, Navajo President Russell Begaye, and Havasupai Councilwoman Carletta Tilousi.

Photo credit: Blake McCord

grazing, logging, recreation, private and state inholdings, leases, or commercial uses.

Tusayan DevelopmentLast year, a top Interior official had notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service that permitting a massive new development near Grand Canyon’s south rim could threaten seeps and springs in the Grand Canyon. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife Michael Bean sent a letter warning that allowing the developer to proceed and pump groundwater could result in a violation of the World Heritage Convention. Interior’s letter supports arguments presented by the Grand Canyon Trust and allies to the Forest Service that urged the agency to stop the permitting process because the development is not in the public interest. Undeterred, the U.S. Forest Service took “scoping” comments for permitting utility and road rights-of-way. Opponents insist that the agency must evaluate all connected actions and impacts, especially to aquifers supplying springs in the Grand Canyon. We continue to await a decision by the U.S. Forest Service about whether or not they will require

a full Environmental Impact Statement in granting right-of-way access to the proposed massive new development in the gateway community of Tusayan.

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Thanks to Grand Canyon River Runners Association for your enduring commitment to keeping the canyon grand. To stay current on these and other issues and to support timely actions, please visit grandcanyontrust.org and follow us on Facebook.

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Last summer, on September 6th, I attended my 20th post-trip dinner. It had most of the elements of the first nineteen such dinners, but with a twist. I was not a participant on this particular river trip.

On this special evening I was an observer along with my fellow GCRRA board members Pam Whitney, Bob McConnell, Hank Detering and Jan Taylor, and founding board member Ruthie Stoner; along with Lynn Hamilton, managing director of Grand Canyon River Guides; Rich Turner representing Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association; John Dillon of the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association. There were other invited guests present, including many from the American Legion.

All of us were there to celebrate the river journey of others – a group of Marines who had just experienced the magic of Grand Canyon first hand. Our own excitement almost equaled that of the Marines, especially knowing that we are the ones who got them there. This was the culmination of Hank Detering’s little seed of an idea, first planted at our board of directors meeting in 2013. It was the end result of two years on a fund-raising roller coaster, and the fruition of all that we had hoped for. We had just sent 23 wounded Marine veterans on their trip of a lifetime.

Looking back, it is hard to imagine that a small non-profit like GCRRA could have pulled this off. There were some very important elements that made it possible, albeit not without a struggle. We learned a lot about competition and generosity on this improbable journey. But mostly generosity.

Let’s start with our guiding principle. GCRRA consists of a board of seven volunteer directors. Some of us are retired, the rest of us still have our day jobs, but all of us donate whatever time and effort we can to accomplish this organization’s goals. We stated up front, right at the very beginning, that every dollar donated to this trip would go to The Trip, and that is exactly what happened. Our individual donors

offered anywhere from five to several thousand dollars. These people have all earned our everlasting gratitude.

The American Legion’s Operation Comfort Warriors came through for us in a big way, securing the hotel rooms and before- and after-trip dinners in Flagstaff. It is difficult to give an adequate thanks for this generosity, as well as for the emotional support ‘in kind’. The folks who attended the post-trip dinner from the American Legion were bonded to our warriors in ways that most of us will never know. There was not a dry eye in the house when one of our Grand Canyon Warriors raised a glass to them – most were Viet Nam vets - saluting them with, “Welcome home, guys.”

The Bravo Group donated an array of print advertising for the Grand Canyon Warriors trip. They created our logo and they came through with high-quality professional ads that became central to the fund-raising campaign. They did what they do best – they made it a cause.

Sponsors, Partners, Donors – Whatever you want to call them – they provided all sorts of comforts and gear that our Marines needed on the river. I was personally involved in only one request for a product, a behavior that does not come naturally or easily for me. Imagine my pleasure when the vendor thanked me. I was made to feel that I was doing them a favor by asking them to donate their product to our Marines, a scenario that I’m told was repeated over and over again. All our sponsors and donors are listed on our website. It would be worth your time to see where all that generosity came from.

Arizona Raft Adventures outfitted the ten days on the Colorado River with two motor rigs, a paddle boat, the expected great meals and three hand-picked guides: Jon Harned, Amity Collins and Owen Ludwig. From the many stories we heard at dinner it was apparent that crew and participants quickly became interchangeable in camp. While Jon clearly ran the trip, he also learned that Marines need jobs.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

By MARI CARLOS

They organized themselves into groups performing kitchen duty, the latrine protocol, water collection and filtration, and any other duties requiring even the slightest amount of organization. Jon and his crew also had front row seats to watching our Warriors exorcise their demons as the Canyon filled them with its healing power. And on the upside, they were increasingly tasked with keeping the flourishing esprit de corps in check. And by the way, Amity completely held her own with the Marines.

The Hopi also assisted with the healing, as a chance encounter on the river became transformative for all concerned. Others have written of this event, and I will defer to their stories found elsewhere in this issue. Some things you just cannot plan nor adequately explain in the context of life’s daily flow. Yes, there is magic in the Canyon.

The U.S. Marine Corps selected our trip participants, many of whose journeys had to be fitted around medical schedules. There were last-minute dropouts and late additions, but ultimately the Corps sent a group of men who worked cohesively even though most had never met one another prior to the trip. They came from across the United States because funding was procured to provide transport to and from Flagstaff. Yet it was the USMC Wounded Warrior Regiment and its national network that insured the best candidates were brought forth. There was no networking and no favoritism. All the men earned their spots.

Finally, there can never be adequate thanks to Lt. Col. Hank Detering, USMC, retired. It was Hank’s vision and unflinching drive that brought this trip to life and made it a reality. There were times when we all felt Hank’s pain, when the money was not coming in quickly enough and the entire project was in jeopardy. The truth is that there are a lot of charities out there, and many of them work for veterans’ causes. With a first-time endeavor and no track record to prove its worthiness, the Grand Canyon Warriors effort occasionally found donations were slow in coming. But they came in the end.

Early in the trip Hank and the crew learned that impromptu therapy sessions were taking place every night in camp. They chose to stay away and let the men speak openly to one another without intervening. This was hugely beneficial, and more than one man affirmed that the trip gave him more than the VA ever had or ever could.

Hank thought of details that would have eluded most of us. He took envelopes pre-addressed to the trip’s most generous donors and each man was asked to write a thank

you to ‘his’ donor. One young Marine was surprised to learn he was writing to actor Tim Allen, a long-time supporter of veterans causes.

Hank spent an inordinate amount of time speaking, writing, networking and selling the Grand Canyon Warriors trip. The support within the Corps ran deep. But so did the support from the river community. From our own members, their families and friends, to the Grand Canyon Fund, it seems that those who had already experienced what the Canyon can give were first to offer a rafting opportunity for the wounded veterans.

Hank is hard at it again with our second group of veterans slated to launch in August, 2016. After a successful trip in 2015 we thought fund-raising would be easier the second time around. The Land of the Free Foundation has made a sizeable donation in honor of Dr. Bill Krissoff, who will be going on our trip this summer, and we are forging a partnership with the Focus Marines Foundation, but donations are lagging. Hopefully that will change – We will do this trip!

Finally, I must comment on the Marines I met that night at dinner. I remembered my first trip dinner when I was still awash in the aura of the Canyon, convinced that it was my Canyon and that no one else had been so touched by it as I had. The Canyon’s mark on my soul was indelible. But as I looked around the room at the Marines who could not stop smiling, gesturing at others to come see a particular photo, nodding knowingly at shared memories, describing their trip highlights to anyone, everyone – I knew. As I watched them and listened to them, I knew. It was their Canyon too.

Mission accomplished.

A Trip Dinner

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FLAGSTAFF — Hank Detering rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon for the first time in 2002 and it changed the course of his life.

He returned to the river again and again, five more times. On three of the trips, he worked as a swamper, the assistant boatman. He joined the Grand Canyon River Runners Association and wound up on its board of directors. And two years ago, after appearing on a panel to talk about his experiences as a Vietnam veteran, he had an idea.

Early Friday, he boarded a raft at Lees Ferry for his seventh trip, this time leading 23 young combat veterans on their first journey down the canyon.  Detering helped raise the money to pay for the trip so that the men, most of them Marines like Detering, many

severely wounded in battle, just had to show up.

Raising the money took almost two years. Along the way, Detering and the river runners won the backing of the American Legion and the Marine Corps, which helped select the men who went. The group set out Friday with the good wishes of many, including, via Twitter, U.S. Sen. John McCain.

Organizers were still working out a few logistics late last week (how do you charge the battery on an artificial leg in the wilderness?) but it was all coming together for a group that had become the Grand Canyon Warriors.

Whether the trip will change their lives, Detering couldn’t predict. No two people

come off the river with exactly the same experience, he said, but just getting these men on the river achieved one of his goals. If the trip makes a difference in their lives, all the better.

“People say the Grand Canyon is like a cathedral without a roof,” he said Thursday as he watched the last of the group check in to their hotel on old Route 66. “This can be a life-changing trip. But they’re going to come back feeling like they can do a lot of things, probably more than they realize. I wanted them to feel that.  And they’re going to come back with amazing stories.”

A trip to the river

Detering had grown up on the East Coast and served 20 years in the Marines, including a tour in Vietnam, where he was wounded. Back home in Pennsylvania, he taught high school biology and, when he retired, helped his wife manage a horse farm and worked on open-space preservation projects.

Then his daughter Susan packed her bags and left her job at Manhattan art gallery and headed west. She landed in Page, where she took a job with an outfitter that ran day trips on the Colorado down-river from Glen Canyon Dam. From there, she moved to Flagstaff and onto the longer trips through the Grand Canyon.

And in 2002, she talked her father and mother onto a raft and down the canyon. Detering returned with whitewater rapids in his eyes.

“Every trip is different,” he said. “I’ve done different hikes on every trip I’ve taken. There are some gorgeous places down there.”

Detering joined the river runners group and kept returning to the canyon, always looking for something new to take back.

In 2013, he appeared on a panel after a theater group performed “Johnny

Got His Gun,” adapted from Dalton Trumbo’s anti-war novel from 1939. The topic for the panel was what to do for returning veterans.

“I was in Vietnam and we didn’t get treated really well when we came home,” Detering said. “So for me, the

best thing we could do was welcome them home. But I came away from that night thinking, ‘I need to do something more, not just talk about it.’”

About the same time, he heard about a program that helped wounded and

By SHAUN MCKINNONFirst published in The Arizona Republic, August 31, 2015

23 wounded vets, 3 rafts and Canyon trip of a lifetime

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disabled vets learn to kayak on the Colorado. In 2013, Detering read about a Navy veteran who lost his eyesight three years after he went off active duty. The veteran kayaked the entire 226-mile length of the canyon with the support of a river runners group.

That was it. Detering approached his own river runners group and the Grand Canyon trip began to take shape. Organizers looked for donors and developed criteria for the vets who would be invited. Above all, they needed to be able to handle the physical demands of riding in the rafts and hiking in the canyon.

“We kind of started fundraising off our Christmas card list,” said Bob McConnell, one of Detering’s fellow board members. “I don’t remember ever sensing that we weren’t going to do this. Everybody seemed determined to make this happen.”

The right trip

For the organizers, the important thing about the trip was to provide a setting where the vets could enjoy the camaraderie without feeling like they were the objects of someone’s good deeds.

“You hear a lot of stuff about our wounded veterans,” McConnell said. “They don’t want to be treated as if they can’t do things, but sometimes there just aren’t the opportunities for them to get out. We want to treat them like they’ve done the service they’ve done.”

Of the 23 servicemen, 13 are medically retired, one is an active duty corpsman and nine more are active but in the Marines’ wounded warrior regiment.

The trip was booked with a Flagstaff outfitter, Arizona Raft Adventures, a company that has a reputation for accommodating people with

disabilities. The trip was designed as closely as possible to feel like any other trip.  Some of the men brought special needs, sometimes related to their injuries.

One Marine lost his leg and walks with an electronic prosthesis. The battery can hold a charge for seven days, which meant he would need a recharge before the trip was up. Several options were found, including a solar-powered charging unit and another unit the rafting outfitter kept on hand.

The men will ride in two motorized rafts and, on some days take turns on an oar-powered craft, giving them a chance to steer through some of the river’s famous whitewater rapids. They will camp out along the river each night and, one some days, will hike up away from the river, perhaps to see a natural feature or an archaeological site.

They will finish the trip at Diamond Creek on Sept. 6 and board buses back to Flagstaff.

Mark Seavey joined the trip as a representative of the American Legion’s Operation Comfort Warriors

project, which helped raise a significant portion of the money to get the Marines on the river. He said there’s no question the 10 days on the river will benefit the 23 men, who will have to work together along the way.

“If you can get vets into a unique environment, where they can be themselves and with others like them, it’s very good for healing,” he said.

A chosen few

Benjamin North is a sergeant currently stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., with the wounded warrior battalion that is part of the Corps’ regiment. He

said he was one of the first Marines to raise his hand when word of the trip circulated.

“I’ve been to the Grand Canyon about 20 times, but always saw it from the rim,” said North, who served a tour in Afghanistan. “This will be a different perspective.”

“It’s just been on my bucket list,” said Levi White, a staff sergeant who was deployed and wounded in Iraq. “I’ve never had a chance to do it.”

Patrique Fearon, a sergeant who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, listened to his buddies and then admitted he wasn’t too excited about the idea at first.

“I kinda had to be forced into it,” he said. ‘Then I took it on and I started researching it and I figure it’ll be something I can put on my ‘been there, done it’ list. Not a lot of people can say they’ve done this.”

Fearon only had a month to prepare, but he said he came up with a work-

out plan to get ready.

“Now I’m the best prepared” he said, eyes sweeping his fellow Marines, looking for any other opinions. “And I’m the strongest one here.”

“I thought you’d say you were the best-looking, too,” North said.

“Yeah, I think we know that’s true,” Fearon said.

Manny Gonzalez is a Navy corpsman who worked as a medic in Afghanistan. He brought his medic’s bag with him on the trip and is ready to help if needed.

“This is my first time at the Grand Canyon, my first time in Arizona,” he said. “I’ve been on one whitewater trip on Bali, but that’s about it.”

He has two kids at home and he wants to tell them stories about the cool things he did on the trip.

“The only thing I’m worried about is the hikes,” said Gonzalez, who had a leg injury. “I have been able to stay active since I was injured so I think I’ll be OK.

“If I’m able to serve my country,” he said, “I’m pretty sure I can handle a hike.”

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During a whitewater rafting trip in the Grand Canyon, a Hopi Indian spiritual leader stepped into the men’s boat to explain how the tribe members come to release their demons to the sacred canyon and fill themselves with the good in life. The men took the message to heart and trip organizer Hank Detering, himself a retired wounded Marine, hopes to give more veterans the same defining experience in 2016.

In August, Detering helped to spearhead the 10-day whitewater rafting trip down the Colorado River for 24 wounded Marines — the Grand Canyon Warriors. A long-time canyon devotee, Detering knew a trip focused on being alive, being active and abandoning limitations would go far in healing the Marines’ often hidden wounds, ranging from depression to post traumatic stress.

Two years of fundraising made it a reality. The Grand Canyon River Runners Association, a nonprofit that works to preserve public access to the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, sponsored the journey. The American Legion jumped in and covered lodging costs; multiple outdoor suppliers contributed everything from fleece blankets to headlamps to sunscreen. Bravo Group designed logos and attention-grabbing visuals to promote the effort and encourage donations.

Detering continues the drumbeat, actively fundraising to cover the $4,000-per-man cost for 22 more Marine veterans this summer.

“They all had wounds that had healed to some degree, but they come home and they struggle,” Detering said of the men on the first journey. “This got through to all of them. This

made an impact.”

It was such an important journey that a limited number of challenge coins, small medallions usually bearing a unit’s or group’s insignia or emblem, were minted for the men to commemorate their participation. The ritual of handing out challenge coins is a long tradition among those in the military, with soldiers carrying for a lifetime, trading with one another and bestowing upon others for their actions.

Whether sharing stories from the trip or relaying post-journey phone calls from moms grateful for their boys’ turnaround, Detering gets teary eyed.

Each night, the warriors had their own group therapy. “They talked about whatever they wanted, not what was on the agenda, not what a psychologist decided,” Detering said. “No one guided the discussions. They were intense.”

They spoke of suicide attempts, seemingly inevitable divorces, years of sleeplessness, and the predilection of the health care system to treat everything with a pill. One Marine slept yards from camp; he did not want his screaming nightmares to disturb the others.

Detering let the magic of the group and the canyon do its work. Two days into the journey, Detering saw the marine plagued with nightmares sleeping quietly

about 20 feet away, not making a peep all night for the first time in years.

Demons were cast aside in the daylight, too. One Marine at all times wore a KIA (Killed in Action) bracelet that carried the names of his three unit buddies killed in combat. The rough Colorado rapids overturned a raft and claimed the bracelet. The man told Detering there could be no better place to leave it than in this sacred wilderness.

“Everybody thought they had gotten a new chance at life,” he said. “It was incredible the way they reacted.”

The Marine Corps WW Regiment provided the participants who hailed from 17 different states and will do so again for the 2016 journey. Detering will invite the Hopi priest to speak with the new group of warriors and will have aboard as the group’s doctor Lt. Cmdr. William Krissoff, an orthopedic surgeon who joined the Marines at nearly 60 years old after his son was killed during combat in Iraq.

To make a tax-deductible donation online, go to www.gcriverrunners.org and click the Grand Canyon Warriors logo, or mail a donation to GCRRA Wounded Warriors Trip, P.O. Box 20013, Sedona, AZ 86341-20013.

This effort is not affiliated with any other charitable organization using the name “wounded warrior.” Every penny of each donation goes directly to trip costs.

Inquiries about sponsoring an individual soldier for $4,000 can be directed to Hank Detering, HankD461@aol.com, 610-869-3631.

Yvonne Feeley, Bravo Groupwww.bravogroup.us

GRAND CANYON WARRIORS: WOUNDED VETERANS HEAL ON THE RAPIDS

It was a moment that changed the lives of two dozen combat-wounded Marines this summer.

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Watercraft for fastwater river running on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon began with craft designed and made for other water locations and purposes. Built of hard wooden construction, they ranged from the Hopi boatman Tiyo’s hollowed log (a long time ago), to James White’s potential trip on a log raft (1867), to the Whitehall design used by John Wesley Powell (1869 and 1872), to the Galloway-designed stern-first boats (1898), to Norm Nevills’s “face your danger” cataracts or sadirons (1938 to mid-’50s), to today’s Grand Canyon dory (1962).

Although air-filled “rubber” boats originated over 100 years previously in the 1830s, it wasn’t until 1938 when Amos Burg rowed “Charlie,” his specially designed inflatable from Air Crafters, Inc. (the same company that supplied Amelia Earhart with life rafts), that they entered Grand Canyon river running

history. After World War II, military surplus equipment became available. Harry Aleson rowed the first “10 Man” (ten-person manually inflated rubber or neoprene landing boat) in 1949 on the trip Bert Loper (“The Grand Old Man of the Colorado River”) “ran his last rapid.” Georgie White/Clark (“Woman of the River”) rowed a 10-Man in 1952 and Bus Hatch (“The Dean of Fastwater Boatmen”) motored one in 1954. That same trip, Bus had the first military surplus bridge pontoon (commonly called a “donut,” an oval-shaped 2 ½ to 3 foot diameter tube), a 28-footer rowed by Smuss Allen.

Also in 1954, Georgie lashed three 10-Man rafts together to form a “triple-rig,” and then three 28’ pontoons that became her “G-Rig” (“G” for Georgie), a design that used increasingly large pontoons. She ran this design through 1991, before she “ran the last rapid” in 1992, having sold out to Western River Expeditions

who retired her configuration. In the mid-to-late-’50s, Bus Hatch, and then others, built a wooden frame off the back tube of pontoons for a transom to mount a motor. Originally for motoring across the flatwater reservoirs of Mead and Powell at the end of river trips, these “taildraggers” or “mousetraps” came to be motored in flatwater between rapids, then through rapids themselves.

In the mid-1960s, in addition to oval donuts, straight 22’ long tubes became available. Originally, they were blunt on both ends, then blunt on one end with an upturned “snout” on the other. Boatmen and outfitters tried a variety of combinations of pontoons and snout tubes. Ron Smith, who began his river running as a Georgie passenger, then became one of her boatmen who also ran for other outfitters and began his own company, strapped blunt tubes on either side of a pontoon, forming an “S-Rig” (“S” for Smith). This has become the standard for today’s motorized Grand Canyon river outfitters: Arizona Raft Adventures; Arizona River Runners; Colorado River and Trail Expeditions; Grand Canyon Discovery; Grand Canyon Expeditions (Ron Smith’s founding company); Grand Canyon Raft Adventures; Grand Canyon Whitewater; Hatch River Expeditions; Tour West (a modified version, with uplifted blunt side tubes); and Wilderness River Adventures.

When Jack Currey, founder of Western River Expeditions, bid on military surplus rafts in the

mid-’60s, he found he purchased snouts instead of pontoons for his S-Rigs. He, Paul Thevenin, and Jake Luck started strapping the snouts together for rowing, but ended with a five-tube wide motorized “J-Rig” (“J” for Jack), a design still in operation by Western.In 1970, when Gaylord Staveley converted from Nevills’s cataract/sadirons to motorized rigs (Mexican Hat Expeditions to Canyoneers), his design evolved into a “C-Craft” (“C” for Canyoneers). Two extra-long snouts on each side of a frame and the inner snouts eventually rotated

inward and connected, thus giving the bow one rounded point instead of two snout points.

Former Canyoneers boatmen Cam Staveley (Gaylord’s son and Nevills’s grandson), Jim Protiva, and Jim Norton constructed a big rig for Arizona Raft Adventures (AzRA) in 1981, one that I call an “N-Rig” (“N” for Norton). It has aspects of both the C-Craft and J-Rig, being constructed of four snouts with a middle frame like the original C-Craft (without

the turned- in middle snouts), but short side snouts like the J-Rig. Grand Canyon National Park at first classified it as a “Modified C-Craft” but now as a “Modified J-Rig,” when to me it is really a hybrid.

The recent Grand Canyon Warriors river trip, sponsored by the Grand Canyon River Runners Association and featured in this issue of the Grand Canyon River Runner, had two AzRA motor rigs – one S-Rig and one N-Rig. AzRA inherited the S-Rigs when they acquired Grand Canyon Discovery (the former High

Desert Adventures, owned by the Sleight family) and Grand Canyon Raft Adventures (the former Moki Mac River Expeditions, owned by the Quist family). Perhaps the participants got a chance to experience the Colorado River from each craft, thus getting a slightly different view of the canyon and river. Perhaps they had a favorite, though I always felt that any river craft that got me on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon was my favorite.

Grand Canyon Warriors “Big Rigs” By C. V. Abyssus

Illustration compliments of Marty Mathis and Grand Canyon Expeditions, Co

AzRA’s N-Rig, circa 2012

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The Paria River was flowing dirty. So were the mouths of the river trip participants as they got off of the bus at Lees Ferry. Apparently they had gotten to know each other on the bus ride, as they were harassing each other to no end. 25 marines, all guys, for 10 days……..this could be a long trip. They were mostly in their late twenties and early thirties. All of them “Wounded Warriors.” I was honored to be a boatman on this trip, but it looked like things could get a little rough.

I’d seen Wounded Warrior trips on the water before. The Grand Canyon has been helping soldiers heal as long as soldiers have known about it. Veterans of all generations have found solace and comfort between the walls of those canyons. I wonder when the first soldier wandered into the canyon for some peace and quiet……….30,000 years ago?

There were 2 motor rigs, 1 paddle boat, 3 boatmen, 25 Marines, 10 days, 226 miles, 9-15,000 cfs, and enough testosterone to fill the canyon. We split up into 6 teams that rotated through the duties: cook, dishes, toilets, water filtration. Everyone was to do their part to make this trip happen. At the first camp it was obvious these guys were

used to working as a team. They had a real respect for each other despite just meeting the previous day. They all seemed to love being in the Grand Canyon. And all the while, the relentless verbal abuse never let up.

One of the guys was Navajo. He’d heard about sacred sites in Grand Canyon and was curious to see one. We stopped at South Canyon and visited the ruins there. Everyone listened intently as we talked about the different cultures that are affiliated with the Grand Canyon. One of the guys had been blown-up and had lost a leg. He used his fused together leg and a prosthetic to scramble up through the gully and across the rocky bench. He had to reattach his leg at one point. When he sweats it affects the suction device that holds the prosthetic on. You could hear it burping and farting as he made his way through the canyon heat. He said they really didn’t do anything like this in his physical therapy program.

We traveled downstream as Marble Canyon rose around us. It seemed that every time I turned around I would see one of the warriors gazing in wonder at the canyon walls. That’s the best part of being down there….watching the light go on.

At Nankoweap, we stopped to visit another river trip. It was the Hopi doing their annual river trip. We had a busy day planned, so we didn’t stay long. The Hopi were very appreciative of the service the Marines had given to our country. They were packing up their camp getting ready for their visit to the Little Colorado River and the Hopi Salt Mine. They were there to pray. They prayed for all things, especially for rain to grow food in this arid land. A couple of the Marines thanked the Hopi for sharing their river. The Hopi thanked us by putting red hematite paint and prayer feathers on our boats for protection.

At Carbon Canyon we stretched our legs. We hiked up to the Butte Fault and over to Lava-Chuar Canyon. It became evident that pain meds were a normal part of life for some of the guys. Knees and backs hurt from previous injuries. Some learned that they need not do all of the hikes. Some learned that they wouldn’t miss any of them. The sky clouded over just as it started getting hot. By the time we were back at the river, it was raining like crazy and it didn’t look like it was going to let up. Soon, Lava-Chuar canyon was in a flash flood. The Hopi were really doing a job with their prayers that day.

We decided to hole up early, due to the weather. As we had a little time to kill, our trip organizer, Hank Detering decided to take the opportunity to make a special presentation to each person on the trip. We all received a challenge coin for being a participant on the Grand Canyon Warriors 2015 trip through the Canyon. The guys were all elated to have the coin. So was I. I didn’t feel I deserved it as I had never served the way the Marines had served. But they were starting to give me and the other boatmen endless grief, just like they gave to each other. I guess we were getting pretty tight.

Gorge day. The inner gorge of the Grand Canyon is deep and dark and full of fantastic whitewater. It’s time to dig deep with the paddles. It’s time for focus and respect for the power of the river. It’s time to be our best. But before we got very far that morning, we came across the Hopi trip again. We stopped for another visit. Marvin, a Hopi priest, explained to us, in more detail this time, what the Hopi were doing during their trip through the Grand Canyon. They intended to bring their prayers to Grand Canyon. They prayed for the whole world. They prayed for the wellbeing of plants and animals and rocks and water. The Hopi intended to leave the dark side of themselves in the canyon and return home with renewed strength to share with their villages. Marvin asked each one of us to do the same. We should all leave our demons behind and return to our families with new strength. Then a most amazing thing happened. Marvin visited each person on our

trip and put a dot of red hematite paint on our chests and he prayed for each one of us. The paint for one man was placed on the scar from a bullet wound that should have ended his life. The healing rain came again. This time much of it fell from our eyes.

Hance, Sockdolager, Grapevine, Zoroaster, Horn Creek, Granite, and Hermit. What an amazing day of rapids. Paddlers dug in together for some nice runs. Others were a little disappointed that there wasn’t a flipped raft. The river gods were listening and provided two exciting flips later in the trip. One was at Dubendorff rapids and the other, of course, at Lava Falls. Any other trip, people would have been traumatized. The Marines loved it. We enjoyed the waterfalls at Shinumo Creek, Elves Chasm and Havasu. Someone made reference to Marvin every day. The canyon worked its magic. We shared the beauty and the adventure of the place. When it was time to work, the crews made it happen. When it was time to play, we enjoyed every moment. We harassed each other every waking hour, and some even when they slept.

Grand Canyon Warriors River Trip

2015

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I will never forget our last night on the river together. Everyone was anxious for the trip back home. We were regretting that the trip was ending. Some guys were singing at the top of their lungs into the canyon night. Others were crying as they shared the gruesome realities of things they had experienced in combat. No one was untouched. The Grand Canyon has this effect on people. It opens us up like a can opener. Our heads, hearts and souls are open and exposed. I don’t know if everyone enjoyed their last night, but I know people’s cans were seriously opened.

The Marines I went through the Grand Canyon with impressed me deeply. A finer bunch of loyal, sincere, fun loving, dedicated, tough, shit talking, S.O.B.’s has never been down the Colorado River. Many people worked to make that trip happen. All the effort was more than worth it. Hank Detering had the vision and dedication to get those veterans to the Grand Canyon for an experience they will never forget. Big thanks go out to you, Hank. As for me, I’ll bring my challenge coin on every river trip I take through the canyon in memory of ten days with a bunch of heroes.

Jon Harned

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Glen Canyon Dam Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The name alone is enough to give one pause. And it should. This is about the future of the very heart of Grand Canyon – its river and attendant riparian zone from Glen Canyon Dam to Lake Mead. The plan is essential, it is long overdue, and it is bewilderingly complex.

The plan will attempt to encompass, to the extent possible, the needs of the Canyon’s many and varied stakeholders while simultaneously mitigating the adverse downstream impacts of the previous 50 years of dam management. Or, in the words of the DOI (Department of the Interior), “The LTEMP would determine specific options for dam operations (including hourly, daily, and monthly release patterns), non-flow actions, and appropriate ex perimental and management actions that will meet the requirements of the Grand Canyon Protection Act, maintain or improve hydropower production, and minimize impacts on resources, including those of importance to American Indian tribes”.

The entire DEIS, if printed, would top out just shy of 2,000 pages, including extensive scientific analysis of the alternatives, involved cooperating agencies, consequences, references, tables, graphs, and a daunting four and a half pages of abbreviations and acronyms! There are lengthy appendices addressing such diverse topics as cultural resources, sediment, aquatic resources, vegetation, hydropower systems, tribal resources, socioeconomics, and recreation. Cooperating agencies include three federal entities, three state agencies, two public utilities, and six Tribes. The lead agencies are the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service, both of them assisted by Argonne National Laboratory in the preparation of the DEIS document.

What You Need To Know:

Considering the complexity of the information and supporting data incorporated into the DEIS, a summary is hereby provided. There are seven LTEMP alternatives. Other alternatives were considered and rejected, but these seven remain as the only alternatives under consideration. One of them, Alternative D, is the preferred alternative, so designated by the Department of the Interior. “The objective of Alternative D (the preferred alternative) is to adaptively operate Glen Canyon Dam to best meet the resource goals of the LTEMP... Alternative D features condition-dependent flow and non-flow actions that would be triggered by resource conditions.”

Again, from the LTEMP (Volume I, Chapter 2.2.4) “Alternative D was developed by the DOI after a full analysis of the other six LTEMP alternatives had been completed. This alternative was chosen as the preferred alternative by the DOI, and its selection as the preferred alternative was supported by Western Area Power Administration and the Basin States. Alternative D adopts operational and experimental characteristics from Alternative C and Alternative E. The effects of operations under Alternatives C and E were modeled, and the results of that modeling suggested ways in which characteristics of each could be combined and modified to improve performance and reduce impacts, while meeting the purpose, need, and objectives of the LTEMP DEIS”.

The alternatives and the rest of the LTEMP DEIS can be viewed on line or at designated locations as outlined in the DOI’s official LTEMP DEIS announcement, which follows. GCRRA urges you to become informed and submit a comment.

We support Alternative D, the preferred alternative, along with our partners on many of Grand Canyon’s most pressing issues, Grand Canyon River Guides, Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association and The Grand Canyon Trust.

Here is the announcement sent to stakeholders and other interested parties on January 8, 2016:

LTEMP DEIS Now Available for Public Review

The Department of the Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation and National Park Service (NPS), has made available for public review and comment the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan for the Operation of Glen Canyon Dam (LTEMP). The LTEMP would determine specific options for dam operations (including hourly, daily, and monthly release patterns), non-flow actions, and appropriate experimental and management actions that will meet the requirements of the Grand Canyon Protection Act, maintain or improve hydropower production, and minimize impacts on resources, including those of importance to American Indian Tribes.

The DEIS was filed with the Environmental Protection Agency on January 8, 2016, and a 90 day public comment period was initiated with the publication, also on January 8, 2016, of the Department of Interior’s Notice of Availability of the DEIS in the Federal Register. Written comments on the DEIS should be submitted by April 7, 2016.

The DEIS is available for reviewing on the internet at: http://ltempDEIS.anl.gov/. Compact disc copies of the DEIS are available for public review at the following locations:

• J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, 295 South 1500 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112.

• Cline Library, Northern Arizona University, 1001 S. Knoles Drive, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6022.

• Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85004.

• Page Public Library, 479 South Lake Powell Boulevard, Page, Arizona 86040.

• Grand County Library, Moab Branch, 257 East Center Street, Moab, Utah 84532.

• Sunrise Library, 5400 East Harris Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89110.

• Denver Public Library, 10 West 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver, Colorado 80204.

• Natural Resources Library, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Main Interior Building, Washington, DC 20240-0001.

Public meetings and webinars to provide information and receive written comments will be held as follows:

• Webinar – Tuesday, February 16, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. MST;

• Meeting – Monday, February 22, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. MST, Flagstaff, Arizona;

• Meeting – Thursday, February 25, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. MST, Phoenix, Arizona; and

• Webinar – Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at 1:00 p.m. MST.

Staff will be available to take written comments and answer questions during this time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by the following methods:

• Website: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/LTEMPDEIS.

• Mail: Glen Canyon Dam LTEMP Draft DEIS, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue – EVS/240, Argonne, Illinois 60439.

Public meetings will be held at the following locations:

• Flagstaff – USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, 2255 N. Gemini Road, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001.

• Phoenix – Embassy Suites Phoenix-Tempe, 4400 S. Rural Road, Tempe, Arizona 85282.

For specific information about the web-based meetings, please refer to the LTEMP DEIS website at: http://ltempDEIS.anl.gov/.

The purpose of the proposed action is to provide a comprehensive framework for adaptively managing Glen Canyon Dam over the next 20 years consistent with the Grand Canyon Protection Act and other provisions of applicable Federal law. The proposed action will help determine specific dam operations and actions that could be implemented to improve conditions and continue to meet the Grand Canyon Protection Act’s requirements and to minimize – consistent with law – adverse impacts on the downstream natural, recreational, and cultural resources in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park, including resources of importance to American Indian Tribes.

The need for the proposed action stems from the need to use scientific information developed since the 1996 Record of Decision (ROD) to better inform the public of Department of the Interior decisions on dam operations and other management and experimental actions so that the Secretary of the Interior may continue to meet statutory responsibilities for protecting downstream resources for future generations, conserving Endangered Species Act-listed species, avoiding or mitigating impacts on National Register of Historic Places-eligible properties, and protecting the interests of American Indian Tribes, while meeting obligations for water delivery and the generation of hydroelectric power.

To request a copy of the DEIS on compact disc, please use the CD Order Form on the project web site (//http://ltempDEIS.anl.gov/). For further information, please contact the respective joint-lead agency project managers, Ms. Beverley Heffernan, Bureau of Reclamation, bheffernan@usbr.gov, 801-524-3712; or Mr. Rob Billerbeck, National Park Service, Rob_P_Billerbeck@nps.gov, 303-987-6789.

For More Information

To learn more about how you can participate in the DEIS process, visit the “Getting Involved” page of the LTEMP DEIS Website (http://ltempDEIS.anl.gov/involve/).

If you have questions or need more information, contact the LTEMP DEIS Webmaster at ltempDEISwebmaster@anl.gov

Glen Canyon Dam LTEMP DEIS Released by U.S. Department of the InteriorSummarized by Mari Carlos

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GCRRA DIRECTORS

Mari Carlos President Los Angeles, CAPam Whitney Treasurer Flagstaff, AZB. Dwight Sherwood Founding President Dallas, TXRobert McConnell Washington, D.C.Jan Taylor Secretary, Membership Sedona, AZHank Detering Cochranville, PA

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Permit #110Medford, OR

www.gcriverrunners.orgGCRRA, P.O. Box ‑ 20013Sedona, AZ 86341‑20013

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Send us your journal entries, poetry, postcards from the canyon, humorous stories, photos, and original art work for publication in the next newsletter or on the GCRRA website. Electronic submissions are preferred.EMAIL materials to: gcriverrunners@gmail.com Technology challenged? Mail your contributions to :

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Have you experienced a fantastic commercially outfitted trip down the Colorado River? Are you planning to have one in the future? Do you think that the opportunity to see Grand Canyon from river level should be available to everyone, even if they do not have the skill or strength to row their own boat? Did you know that the Park Service can change its management plan, including adjusting the number of visitors and kinds of trips permitted, from time to time? If you care about these issues, GCRRA speaks for you, helping to preserve your opportunities to participate in a commercially outfitted river trip. Have your voice heard! Join us today!

Log on to our website: www.gcriverrunners.org to learn more. We have an online interactive membership form and can accept PAYPAL for your convenience.

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